The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c10.s4.7

c10.s4.7

The Indian name for the modern bayonet is *sangīn*. This may probably mean a little *sāng*; and is possibly formed from *sāng* by a shortening of the vowel and the addition of the diminutive termination ں nasalized. The long, slender, three sided or four sided head of the *sāng* presents a resemblance to the shape of a bayonet; and in Hindī it is not uncommon, in the case of inanimate objects, to employ the feminine termination “*ī*” as a diminutive, thus *golā*, a ball, *golī*, a bullet, *hāndā* a cauldron, *hāndī*, a small pot, *chakkā* a wheel, *chakkī*, a hand-mill.